The House Financial Services Committee approved several bills being pushed by credit union trade groups during a two-day markup this week.

In approving the bills, the committee continued its plan to break Chairman Jeb Hensarling's (R-Texas) Financial CHOICE Act into smaller pieces to make it more palatable to the Senate.

Hensarling said the bills, taken as a whole, “will deliver much-needed regulatory relief to community banks and credit unions so those Main Street financial institutions can better serve their customers.”

Committee ranking Democrat Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) countered that “Republicans appear to be obsessed with rolling back important policies” in Dodd-Frank.

And she told Hensarling, that “pushing the pieces of the Wrong Choice Act one at a time does not make them any more acceptable or any less harmful to the American public.”

NAFCU and CUNA each singled out several bills they support that were approved by the committee, including:

H.R. 1153, which would modify the definition of “points and fees” for purposes of determining whether a mortgage can be a Qualified Mortgage. “This bill excludes from the calculation of points and fees insurance and taxes held in escrow and fees paid to affiliated companies as a result of their participation in an affiliated business arrangement,” the committee said.
H.R. 3221, which would exempt from property appraisal requirements a mortgage loan of $250,000 or less if it appears on the loan creditor's balance sheet for at least three years.
H.R. 3978, which the committee said would “allow for the calculation of the discounted rate title insurance companies may provide to consumers when they purchase a lenders and owners title insurance policy simultaneously.”

The Senate is not likely to consider Hensarling's Financial CHOICE Act.

However, Senate Banking Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Id.) and several moderate Democrats this week announced they had reached agreement on smaller bills to make changes to Dodd-Frank.

Instant Insights /

House Committee Approves Legislation Pushed by CU Trades

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